National politics

The controversy over Indiana’s religious freedom law has opened a new — and predictable — divide in the 2016 presidential race, as Republicans rise to its defense and Democrats condemn the legislation as discriminatory against gays and lesbians.

Prospective presidential candidate Mike Huckabee called Saturday for the imposition of term limits on U.S. Supreme Court justices, saying that the nation’s founders never intended to create lifetime, irrevocable posts.

The surprise retirement of Sen. Harry Reid, the gritty top Democrat in Congress, risks unraveling perhaps the biggest accomplishment of his combative decade in leadership: keeping unruly Democrats united in support of President Obama's agenda and rebuffing an overtly divided GOP.

Retiring Sen. Harry Reid’s quick endorsement of New York Sen. Charles E. Schumer as the next Democratic leader in the chamber could be an early signal he hopes to avoid what could be a contentious battle for a rare opening in party leadership.

House Republicans pushed past their internal divisions to approve a budget blueprint Wednesday, putting the new Congress on track to notch a significant achievement once Senate Republicans pass their version by the end of the week.

Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas kicked off the 2016 presidential race Monday by becoming the first major candidate to officially announce a run — no "seriously considering," no "weighing options," none of the typical gobbledygook meant to put an asterisk on what is an obvious White House bid.

Sen. Ted Cruz jumped into the 2016 presidential race Monday in the same way he intends to run his campaign: upstaging rival Republicans with a splashy, impassioned speech that sought to drag the national conversation further to the right than many in his party want to go.

For four years, Rep. Darrell Issa presided over one of the highest-profile oversight committees in Congress, becoming a fixture in the national news as he took the Obama administration to task for everything from bank bailouts to corruption in Afghanistan.

As the Senate ground to a halt last week over an otherwise bipartisan bill to combat human trafficking, a potential moment of compromise emerged when Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) went to the floor to deliver a simple speech.

As she prepares for a formal announcement of a run for the presidency, expected in the next few weeks, Hillary Clinton continues to benefit from the high degree of popularity she enjoys among other women.

Heeding the call of his own voice, celebrity developer Donald Trump announced Wednesday the formation of a presidential exploratory committee, flirting — again — with a contest he stands no chance of winning.

As congressional Republicans find themselves tangled over their newly introduced spending plans, President Obama tried Wednesday to seize the moment to talk about government spending on his terms, namely a focus on opportunities for the middle class.

House Republicans released a 2016 spending blueprint Tuesday that seeks to fulfill the GOP goal of balancing the budget in 10 years, but does so by slashing Medicare and other safety net programs while dramatically boosting military spending.

The fight over her use of a private email account while secretary of State may have dominated political news, but it does not appear to have significantly damaged Hillary Rodham Clinton's standing with the public, two new polls have found.

The White House on Monday delivered a starkly negative assessment of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s ability to deliver on his promises, faulting him for an “unconscionable delay” of President Obama’s choice for attorney general and “inept...